BANGALORE: The B.S. Yeddyurappa camp was glum while the rest of the Bharatiya Janata Party felt relieved. The opposition was jubilant. It was a mix of moods in Karnataka as the chief minister was on the way out for graft and illegal mining. The 68-year-old Yeddyurappa did not quit immediately as directed by party leaders but went into a huddle with his staunch supporters to decide on the conditions on which he will leave the post.
Though remaining in office appeared a remote possibility after Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde sought his trial for graft, Yeddyurappa and his supporters seemed unwilling to accept the reality.
Hence the shock and pall of gloom in his camp from the party central leaders' decision to tell him to get out at the earliest to save the party from further embarrassment.
The central leaders' decision, however, came as a relief to a large section of long-time BJP members and supporters as the party's image was taking a severe beating in the only southern state it is ruling.
"It was time the change was effected though there is nothing new in the Lokayukta's findings. The opposition parties had made public the documents on donations to a trust run by Yeddyurappa's sons and also about the money they made from selling one acre of land near Bangalore," said a veteran BJP member requesting anonymity.
"Hopefully, this development will be a lesson for all of us in the party and those joining us that our future lies in being different and disciplined," he said.
The Congress and the Janata Dal (JD-S) claimed victory for their struggle to end Yeddyurappa's "corrupt" regime. The two parties had launched a vigorous campaign, particularly in the last six months, releasing various documents in support of their allegation that the "Yeddyuappa regime is the most corrupt in India".
Congress workers broke 101 coconuts in west Bangalore where the party held a rally demanding Yeddyurappa's sacking as he had not resigned soon after the directive from his party high command.
JD-S state president and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who has also been named in the Hegde report for granting mining leases to two firms flouting rules, said "at last wisdom has dawned on the BJP leaders".
For the people of the state, it appeared be an end of one more unstable regime and beginning of the next till the assembly polls in 2013, if not held earlier.
Yeddyurappa's successor will be the fourth chief minister of the state in seven years. N. Dharam Singh of Congress ruled in 2004-06, Kumaraswamy in 2006-07 and Yeddyurappa from May 2008.
The deep divisions in the BJP indicate its regime is only a holding operation and not the one that will bring governance back on the rails.
"The failure of the BJP central leadership to effect a smooth transition shows the new regime will be as unstable as that of Yeddyurappa," said K. Uma, a 60-year-old housewife, a staunch supporter of the BJP and its Jan Sangh predecessor.
"We only hope whoever becomes the chief minister will focus on administration and not merely consolidating his position," said S. Ramanath Shetty, a shopkeeper in the bustling Basavanagudi in south Bangalore.
"Karnataka's bad phase of not having a stable administration continues with little hope that next elections will provide a clear winner, given the poor shape of the three political parties in the state," said M. Sudhindra, a software engineer with an MNC.
Congress trying to use CBI to harass us, claims BJP
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was a tool in the central government's hands to harass them, soon after the Congress demanded a probe by the agency into the Karnataka mining scam.
"This is an attempt to keep the heat on the issue on, we all know how the CBI is used as a tool by the government," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told IANS.
Sitharaman said the BJP, as promised, has taken action by deciding to sack Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa after the Lokyayukta indicted him for illegal mining.
"As per promise, we have responded on the Lokayukta report. Now that the BJP has taken a stand, they have no answer," she said.
She also rejected the Congress charges of the move coming too late.
"Let me just remind the Congress, which is calling it too little and too late. What is the action on (Delhi government minister) Rajkumar Chauhan, who was indicted by the Lokayukta and is still continuing?" she said.
She also said the CBI was a political tool which the Congress was again attempting to use against the BJP.
"It has repeatedly been proven that the CBI has been the government's tool to harass opposition parties. An example is the Sohrabuddin case (in Gujarat)," she said.
Yeddyurappa action too little too late: Congress
NEW DELHI: Describing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decision to remove Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa as too little too late, the Congress Thursday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illegal mining in the state.
"The Lokayukta report is the tip of iceberg. Being a Congress member from Karnataka, I feel a CBI probe is needed to do justice to the nation," Congress general secretary B.K. Hariprasad told IANS, after the BJP asked Yeddyurappa to quit following his indictment in illegal mining by the Lokayukta.
"Lakhs of metric tonnes of iron ore were stolen and exported to Pakistan and China. Naturally, if the country and state needs justice, it must be probed by the CBI," he said.
The report by Lokayukta N. Santosh Reddy said the loss from illegal mining between 2006-10 was upwards of Rs.16,000 crore. "If probed by the CBI, it could be much more," Hariprasad added.
Congress spokeperson Shakeel Ahmad and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla felt the BJP's decision was too late.
"It's too late, it should have happened six months back," Ahmad said.
Shukla added: "It is too late. This should have happened six months ago. There were serious charges against him."
The decision to ask Yeddyurappa to quit was taken by the BJP parliamentary panel that met at the residence of party president Nitin Gadkari.